Tills

I’m teaching a box-class next week at Pete Galbert’s - and in preparation I’m making a box or two this week. I got to the part about cutting the notches for the till and every time I do it I wonder how can three little boards be such a pain in the ass. In this photo, I’ve tested the till side and bottom, but left the box end off - so I can scribe the actual width of the bottom board.

fitting till parts in a new box

It’s easy enough to layout one set of notches - then transferring that layout to the other board is the trick. This photo below is not this week’s box - but it will serve. There’s a lot happening there - from the left - the rear board’s rabbet to house the end/side of the box. Sticking out from that is the pintle (not yet rounded) that will engage the lid’s cleat - forming a wooden hinge. On the inside face of the board is a 5/16”-3/8” diameter hole for the till lid’s pintle - and beyond that the notch for the till bottom and side. I lay out three lines parallel to the bottom edge - two to form the notch for the till bottom and one to designate the top edge of the till side and that in turn also defines the bottom of the till lid. So the pintle hole for the till lid is above this line, tangent to it. And the two vertical lines struck for the till side. I didn’t make this stuff up - I saw these lines struck on period work.

PF box w till notches

Below is a box from Thomas Dennis of Ipswich, Massachusetts - made between 1660-1700. I shot this photo because of the abandoned carving layout - but if you enlarge the photo, you can see the pair of lines struck for the till bottom’s notch - as well as the single line struck to define that till side top/till lid bottom. There’s also vertical lines struck for the till side.

Thomas Dennis family deed box